She opens up
Time flies quiet quickly and it flew at a double speed that year. Soon we would be facing our first pre boards. One night she texted me that she was going to school the next morning and that I should also come. I texted her back saying that both Avi and Darsh are not coming and in a few days our pre boards would also start and we should focus on that only. But she persuaded that I should come as she wanted to discuss something very important. “Par mummy papa ko kya bolu; unhone apna pet dialogue hi marna hain ki tu school kyun ja raha hain chup chap ghar reh kar padh le”. What followed was a series of crying emotions sent through text messages. And finally I gave up saying, “chal yaar, pareshaan mat ho, mai aa jaunga”.
I told my parents that there was some project report submission and for that I have to go to school. They agreed and I reached school at around 7:50. Both she and Duggal were present in front of me. Now what the hell was he doing here I thought in my mind. After the regular prayers our class teacher again seeing the miserable strength of our class uttered her famous words and left for the staff room. I quickly took out my mathematics book and started solving some of the problems. She came to my desk and asked to sit with me. I obliged and tried to ignore her. Suddenly Duggal left the class and she finally spoke up “Yaar, can I share something personal with you??”” No, share it with duggal na; I guess he is your best friend”. “No yaar he is just my friend since childhood”. “Ok then what the hell is he doing here & why have you called him?” “Oh ho jealous, good no I am feeling good actually I didn’t called him he himself came and I cannot tie anyone’s legs.” Whatever so what did you wanted to discuss tell now”. “Nothing serious; just wanted to enjoy your company so texted you and seriously I am also feeling annoyed that why the hell Duggal is here” and after saying so she started laughing in a very unusual way. Duggal finally returned and we again pretended him as if we were studying. But to our surprise, we studied silently for the next one hour. Suddenly, Duggal’s phone rang and he decided to leave for home.
Now there were only two of us left in the classroom. Now we could talk freely I thought in my mind. I could see from her reactions that she was also happy that Duggal left. And after he left she started talking again, “Yaar tell me one thing what would you do after XII?” To which I replied, “If I get good marks I would love to do B.Com (Hons.) from the delhi university”. “Sahi hai yaar, you are so lucky at least you have the option of going to college. “Kyun tere parents talibaani hain kya jo tujhe college nahin jane denge”. She made a small face. I asked her what happened to her all of a sudden. She didn’t reply for some time. Then, I saw something which surprised me. Tiny drops of tears were there on her face. “Hey what happened anything serious?” I asked. “Yaar, this is what I wanted to discuss; my parents are too strict yaar; they are forcing me to do charted accountancy a course which I don’t want to do”. “And what do you want to do.” I asked. Then she took out a file from her bag and showed me her hand made sketches. They were so real and beautiful. I have the worst drawing I guess as when I drew a cat it looked like a dog and when I actually tried to draw a dog it resembled a frog. “You are so talented yaar seriously hats off to you, so what do you want to do I asked. “Yaar I want to draw this whole world according to my own imagination , I want to go to college so that this talent of mine does not get wasted, but my parents are not agreeing to it, they want me to do CA, I am so confused yaar please help me out of this, she said sobbingly. I told her that this is her life and that she should take her own decisions. “Yaar I have tried to explain them all of this but they are just not agreeing to it”, she said. Suddenly I offered her a short term solution. “See you can only get admission in Delhi University if your score is good. So first we will give our best in our boards and then see what would be our next course of action, and again don’t cry ever in our life, understand I hate tears in your eyes bacheyy”. I said. “Aww I am so lucky to have you in my life; thanks god for this gift”. ‘Chal ab melodrama band kar aur kara mujhe maths”.
STUDIES TAKE OVER
There was only a little time left before the pre boards. We had our pre boards in a weeks’ time and talks were more focused on studies and somehow score decent marks in our pre boards. Our first paper was of accounts and there was one incident which I would never forget.
I and Darsh used to study together at the same accounts tutor. He was a very experienced teacher who was teaching the same subject for the past 32 years. Our pre boards were just two days away and we had till that date not even completed our course and our tuition teacher was in no hurry to finish the curriculum. This means that both of us already lost around 20 marks even before giving our exam. But our tutor did not care about our pre boards. “But yaar aise to hum fail ho jayenge vaise hi paper muskhil aata hain pata hain meri ek senior se baat hui thi vo keh raha thi ki pre board aur khas kar accounts ka paper toh kuch zyada hi muskhil aata hai, main to soch raha hoon ki hum paper ko skip hi kar jaate hain; main fail nahin hona chahta boards se pehle” said an extremely tensed Darsh just two days before the exam. “Yaar baat toh teri theek hain apni to abhi puri company padhi hain partnesship aur second book ke sahare toh hum muskhil se pass hi honge pata nahin vo bhi hote hain ya nahin dikkat hain to aaj raat ko sir se baat karke to dekhte hain shayad wo hi kuch sahi advice de” we studied for the whole day and waited for the night to see what the great man has to say.
“School wale to hotey hi pagal hain main 32 years se ye subject pada raha hoon tum ko pre boards ke marks ko karna hi kya hai; tumhara goal sirf boards ke marks par hona chaiye aur mujhe pata hai ki boards main bachon ke marks aate kaise hain tum sirf boards ke liye tayari karo”said the great man
“Par sir agar aap syllabus thoda jaldi kara do to hum isme bhi acha score kar sakte hain hum nahin chahte ki hum pre boards main fail hi ho jayen aur boards se pehle humara confidence down ho jaye plz sir request hain” I basically pleaded with the great man.
“Tumhe kaha na ki tum sirf boards ki tension lo pre boards ke marks kisi kaam nahin aane hain mujhe mat batao ki mujhe kya karna chaiye aur kya nahin main 32 saalo se pada raha hoon mujhe pata hain ki mujhe kab kya karna chaiye agar itni hi dikat hain to chor do meri classes ko zyada chalane ki koshish mat karo mujhe” It was the month of December and how can we imagine to leave a tuition centre at that point of time.
That night I texted to her in my usual way “aur ji kitni tiyari ho gayi madam ji kal to century lagani hain mujhe bhi kuch kara do main to kal fail hone wala hoon”. There was no reply for twenty minutes. I thought she might have slept and then I also went to sleep since had to get up early in the morning.
My sleep was suddenly disturbed by a vibration. Without seeing whose text was it, I gave that person some bad Punjabi abuses in my mind. But it was her and in the text she had written that she was quite worried as she was not fully prepared for the exam. Then what followed were around hundred texts explaining each other the various topics through texts. I explained partnership and she explained to me the various concepts of company accounts. And as god would have it we faired quite well in the paper and made it a habit to clear each other doubts in every paper and in the end scored decent marks in our pre boards.
The day of practicals’
So our 30 marks were to be decided today itself. 10 marks for business studies and 20 for accountancy. I was confident about the practicals’ but when I went inside the class, my whole confidence got vanished. “Bhai yeh question pata hain bhai vo question pata hain” and suddenly my head went into a spin. I was looking for her and finally found her surrounded by many of our class mates". She was having tears in her eyes. When I enquired why she was crying; she with a sad and a gloomy face replied,” kuch nahin aata yr pata nahin room main koi kya sawal pooch le pata nahin kya hoga mera”. [There is one thing about girls; even if they are fully prepared for an examination their expressions are like that they don’t know even a single word of it and the boys [leaving some special ones] are the opposite. But I knew her quite well and knew that she was actually worried. I tried to explain her that teachers are quite lenient in this regard and even if we are unable to answer one or two questions then also we will be given full marks but my advice was of no use and she still remained tensed. But it was not the case with her only in fact all the girls including Anmol and Aashna were also quite worried. I have to keep myself composed I said to myself. And soon I was inside the practical room.
There were two round tables along with chairs meant for students. In front of us two teachers sat; one being our subject teacher and other the invigilator who had come from some other school. Our respective subject files were already there with them. First was Business Studies practical, followed by Accounts after the lunch break. I had made a project on the various housing loans schemes and how we can sell our schemes to the potential customers. The topic itself was quite a weird one and I could easily see from the expressions that they were also quite surprised seeing the project report. And what followed was a flurry of questions like why you choose this, how would you sell this, what would be your marketing strategy, etc, etc. I answered each of them easily and was confident “Ki hunte 10 number kidhar bhi nahin gaye”. I ran out of the room and gave her the important tips and told her to relax down. I waited outside the room waiting patiently for her. And she rocked it and ran from the room feeling quite excited. She was so happy that she hugged me tightly in happiness and said thank you thank you a lot of times. I felt the warmth of her body but she quickly slipped away. But those ten seconds were quite special.
Our accounts practical also went quite smoothly and now we were at least assured of the thirty marks in our board examinations. The relief was great as it felt that almost ten percent of the battle was won.
THE DAY OF FAREWELL
The day of farewell is one of the greatest moments for every student. It not only marks the end of school life for a student but also the starting of a tough phase of life. It is tough man when you have spend twelve years in the same building then one day you are suddenly asked to leave it. And the most hard is to choose the right clothes especially when you are a fat man. But luckily I had experienced parents who knew from where I would get the right clothes. A half sleeve black jacket with a maroon colored shirt and black jeans. Not the perfect pair for farewell as most of the students wears either a suit or a blazer but I wanted to look different. And I did look different that day.
A night before she texted me about what I was wearing on the farewell. I told her about my clothes and also asked her what she was wearing. She first rejected my clothes saying that I should wear traditional and also told that she would be wearing a saree that day. “Yaar I saw your photo on your facebook wall and you look good in that white kurta pyjama consider wearing that” she texted me back. “Acha toh kal hume Katrina ke darshan ho hi jayenge” I texted her jokingly. She texted me back saying that she is going to the market to buy some ear rings and that I should really consider her suggestion of wearing traditional clothes the other day. “Ok dekhta hoon” I texted her back and she didn’t reply perhaps busy buying her ear rings. And as luck would have it in the morning I realized that my jacket has a big hole in it and had no other option but to wear that kurta pyjama on farewell.
It was our farewell day. That day I took around fifteen minutes just in tying the turban. And finally after being self satisfied I asked Avi and Darsh about their plans. Both of them reached my house in ten minutes and my father drove us to our school.
“Yaar jo ladki purey saal mata ji lag rahi thi, woh toh aaj Katrina lag rahi hain” were the first reactions of Avi on reaching the school. Yes it was shocking to find out that all the girls were looking simply stunning that day. But there was a common thing about all the girls on that day. And that was the use of excessive make up. And Darsh had a perfect line for that “In sab ko kabhi raat ko bina make up ke dekh liyo jo tujhe Katrina lag rahi hai raat ko Rakhi Sawant se buri lagegi”.
I was not interested in hearing their talks. Suddenly I heard a tap on my shoulder. And there she was standing right behind me looking very gorgeous that day. Saree suited her I must admit but she was happier that I was wearing what she had asked me to wear. “Aaj tu lag raha hai na asardar sardar”. I could just smile. Suddenly she was called on by Anmol and we all went in for the photo session for the day. A boy had brought a DSLR that day and acted like Daboo Ratnani that day using his minimum knowledge to click our photographs. He clicked them quite well in the end.
After the photography session, it was DJ time. The DJ played some great Punjabi tracks and soon everybody started to shake a leg. There is a thing when Punjabis dance you play a Diljit song or an Eminem number their dance style would remain the same. Both of us didn’t like to dance but Avi forced me to join in and I forced her to join. We danced and danced till there was strength in our legs. Avi was at his best that day dancing like Diljit. Old friends are like wine which actually get better with time and such was the feeling man. This could be the last time when all of us would be together. Suddenly I realized that she was nowhere to be seen. I looked in every direction but there was no evidence of her. I ran towards the school gate and saw her from a distance. Without giving a second thought I yelled her name as loudly as I could. Whole of the school was now looking at me. She looked a little embarrassed. I didn’t want to make her embarrass but why she had left without telling me. She came towards me with all the eyes on her now. Suddenly I made a plan and said “yaar tera na vo phone reh gaya tha vo hi dene ke liye aaya tha pata nahin yeh sab hume ghur kyun rahe hain”. Anmol could not hide her smile and said “kyunki sir sab ko pata hain ki aap yahan par kyun aaye the bhagte bhagte itna innocent banne ki koi zarrorat nahin hain”.’’ Whatever’’, I just wanted to say her goodbye since I won’t be able to see her for at least 20 more days till our exams start.
to be continued...
GURUKARAN SINGH
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